Ikea: No Horse Meat in U.S. Meatballs

Ikea said Monday there was no horsemeat in its popular meatballs sold in the United States, after the Swedish furniture giant withdrew possibly horsemeat-tainted meatballs from stores in Europe.

"All meatballs sold in our Ikea US stores are sourced from a US supplier," the company said in a statement, after a test in the Czech Republic showed horsemeat in Ikea meatballs sold there, AFP reported.

"When this issue first came to light in Europe, we mapped the sources of the meat in our meatballs," the US division said.

"Based on the results of our mapping, we can confirm that the contents of the meatballs follow the Ikea recipe and contain only beef and pork from animals raised in the US and Canada."

Ikea, which sells bags of frozen meatballs in the small food sections of its huge furniture stores, pulled the product from shelves in 16 European countries Monday after the Czech Republic tests.